Sometimes, checking out an EdTech app in a live environment is not an option. Especially when you’ve got a room full of students to manage and need to focus as many precious minutes as you can on teaching your lesson.

If you’re thinking about using Spiral and have been worried about losing lesson time or having technical problems in a live class, here’s a quick guide on how you can test out a Spiral Quickfire without actually being in a classroom.

2. Launch a new Quickfire.

3. Open a new “incognito window” by clicking on “File > New Incognito Window” in Chrome

Tip: You can use the shortcuts Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS) and ⌘-Shift-N (Mac) to open a new incognito window too.

The incognito window will act like a different browser, so you’ll now be able to log in as a student, as if you’re on a different machine. At this point, I usually resize the window so it is smaller and resembles a smartphone layout.

4. Log in as a student

Go to http://gospiral.ac in your new incognito window and enter the lesson code that you made when you launched your Quickfire activity.

5. Ask your question by hitting the ‘Go’ button

Here’s a screenshot that illustrates what you should see on your screen at this point. You’ll be able to submit your answer as a student, and see it on the teacher whiteboard (after you click “Show Answers” on the teacher whiteboard).

6. Optional – Log in on multiple devices

You can also install multiple browsers on your computer, such as Firefox and Opera, to simulate more students. I find this necessary when testing the TeamUp app in Spiral.

Or, you can use any of your mobile devices to log in to student mode too.

I hope this article helps you with testing out Spiral. Was it useful? Would you like a post for Discuss, TeamUp and Clip too? As always, please contact us at http://twitter.com/spiraleducation if you need any help, or have any feedback.